Brian Clark, a brilliant and insightful member of the transmedia and immersive storytelling communities, died this week following a brief battle with cancer. He was 46.
I only had a few, brief interactions with Brian. The first of which was him heckling me at a transmedia think tank. This, I learned, was consummate Brian. One year, there was the prospect of us sharing a house, along with a few others, at SXSW. Admittedly, I was excited at the prospect of being professionally, artistically, mentally and emotionally challenged by Brian over the course of an entire week. Alas, it never happened and I can't help but feel like I missed out on an exhilirating and probably exhausting opportunity.
Nevertheless, I wanted to comment on some of his most important work.
At One 3 Creative, we have a storytelling model that is entirely audience-focused. We don't care about our own tastes or creative desires as much as we do about the stories that are relevant to the audience. Why? Because the ultimate prize in art isn't people seeing our stuff, it's people seeing our stuff and being impacted by a unique experience.
For years, this made us outliers within the industry - especially in Hollywood. Then, at Storyworld LA, I heard Brian speaking about phenomenology and being a phenomenal artist. It was equal parts inspirational and confirmational and made us realize that, even though we had different worldviews, there was someone else who shared a similar philosophy about creating art.
This, I think, is some of Brian's most important work.
Take 18 minutes, watch, listen and share.
All of us at One 3 Creative are praying for Brian's friends and family.